What is it with Timbecon? <<< RANT MODE >>>

CAUTION >>> This is a rant

I mean how bloody hard is it? I honestly cant believe the ******** Ive been through with this mob of galahs...

Ive been pretty patient with this mob over the last year spending literally upwards of $10,000+ there on new tools and even after being made to wait over 4 months for the flamin table saw then a further 2 months for the ruddy sliding table attachment then getting no instructions with it... among other things :rolleyes:

Then going to the woodshow back in August I was suckered in once again and bought some more tools of them... yeah more fool me! :mad: ... amongst them was their 400mm drum sander WITH stand... stand didnt come with it cause they were "at the wharehouse in Belmont" or so I was told and "yes no worries Shane we will send it out after the show"... nope didnt arrive so after a week of waiting I rang them only to be told they dont seem to have any but the boys are all over at the shows over east!... so I am told I would have to wait till they got back from the shows... weeks pass I ring them again "its in the container that should be here thursday or friday" I wait again weeks pass again... I ring again "definantly in the container that should be in Thursday or friday will ring and let you know... now I get ****** off after having to wait yet again and no call... so I ring them LAST Monday morning "Yes Shane the stand for your drum sander is definantly here and we will send it down to you"... now its the next Monday and still no ruddy stand!!!

WHEN??... By bloody slow camel train through Afganistan??? ****! Its not like its flamin hard fellas! and its not like Im over in friggin Queensland or Tassy Im less that 3 friggin hours away!! :mad:

If you say youve got the thing in the warehouse 10 minutes up the road in Belmont then by **** it SHOULD be there!... and it should be sent within a day not several months!... If you say its there then by cripes it should be there! YOU SHOULD FLIPPIN WELL CHECK!! BEFORE YOU TELL SOMEONE ITS THERE!!... If it isnt there or you dont have any then bloody well say so dont lead people on by *********** them!... If you say its there and that you will send it bloody well send the thing! why the ********?

Customer service and Customer satisfaction from Timbecon?... ZERO!

Guess they stay in business through the good graces and ignorance of the suckers!... and yes I was probably their biggest sucker this year... LESSON LEARNT :mad:

<<< END OF RANT >>>

Note... the above was posted only to advise and vent my spleen about what I view as terrible customer service that I have recieved from this company... others may have good service and satisfaction from the same company and that is aknowledged by me as a possiblity... this is simply my veiw and experience of Timbecon and is no reflection on weather or not they are nice people or of any of the staff in particular... its simply about service and honesty or rather the lack there off that I have experienced as a customer who has spent a ******** of money with this company.

Do I expect this rant to make them move off their proverbial asses and finally send the ruddy thing? no and to be honest I could care bloody less!... I will have nothing further to do with Timbecon and will from here on do my business with other companies within the same industry.

Further the above has nothing to do with Ubeaut or their staff members or others but is solely my own words and experiences.

End note

Probably in stock but waiting for the orange paint to dry. :D


Peter.

Yup I'm waiting on orders .......................Not for months but still compared to other Aussie suppliers their significantly slower......................Won't return E-Mails............... next porta call is a P/C & Rant!!!

There've lost a customer here!!!!

In my experience the best service in Australia comes from:

1. Woodpeckers Supplies
2. NorthWood Tools

REgards lou

I had similar experience 18 months ago - posted my rant then

Send them an email with a link to this thread so they can see they are harming themselves.

I've had similar problems, I recently ordered some stuff from both Lee Valley and Timbecon. Both Lee Valley and Timbecon had stock (I called Timbecon before ordering).

Lee Valley shipped the order in 24 hours and I had it in 6 days. Timbecon shipped the order in 6 weeks. :(

In the end I could have got it from Lee Valley for about $4 less! But I thought I'd support the local suppliers.

Joez

I have persevered with these guys, as per previous posts, due to their (generally) better pricing and the fact that the guys are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. No more, my patience is exhausted. Ordered some bits last week across the 'net. 4 days later order is still "pending' whatever the f that means. Rang up, yet another excuse - staff sick, however after I totally lost it, the guy did hand pick and ship personally. I can honestly say not one of my 10 purchases from them has gone smoothly. I'm still waiting for a replacement casting for the band saw upper guides despite 6 x emails and 8 x phone calls.

Contrast this to Lee Valley. Place order Thursday, arrives Monday. Cheaper too and confirmatory emails plus tracking # for parcel.

First buy from Carbetec last week, a chisel morticer on special. Very helpful due to arrive tomorrow. Lets see how they stack up. Beat Timbecon by $50 tho.

The thing thats really psses me off is that Timbecon have got the hard part of their business right. The easy part, ie despatch and customer relations, is costing them a fortune. If they don't fix it, it may kill them. Worse still nobody seems to care!

They've lost this little duck anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bodgy

The thing thats really psses me off is that Timbecon have got the hard part of their business right. The easy part, ie despatch and customer relations, is costing them a fortune. If they don't fix it, it may kill them.

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I couldn't agree more.

Ive bought two items from them at the Sydney show for the last two years. Both times they ran out of stock and said they'd send the items to me free of freight. Both items arrived, the first the following Thursday and the second took the six weeks they said it would take.
Excellent service.
But this year I ordered a dust collector they had on special on their website. That was 3 months ago, so I rang them, they made excuses and said give us another week to send a confirm email and if it doesn't happen ring back. It didn't and so I bought one elsewhere. Wonder what happens when theirs arrives as I haven't paid for it.
Not excellent service.
So I'm not much help as to whether they've lost the plot or not. It seems lately they may have.

Now I understand why you are called "WILD" dingo and not "slightly annoyed" dingo.

As you have stated others have had good service from them, count me in that lot. only once did I have to wait for an order, but after three weeks the items all turned up.

I had similar problems over 2 years ago, they lost me then. Looks like same old, same old. I even stear clear of their stand at the wood show. Seems to me that they just don't give a damn.

I had a very similar experience with them. I bought a TSC 10HB from Timbecon and they called me the next day to say that it was shipping with a different fence but they would get the correct Biesemeyer fence to me when the container came in a weeks time. Well didn't happen I waited months and months. So I won't bother with them in future.

Others have mentioned Lee Valley, and I add my hearty endorsement. LV have been great. They send confirmation emails let you have shipping numbers and are prompt. I have bought from them twice and each time the order arrived within seven days. It is all done absolutely bang on at Lee Valley.

Studley

Just thought Id update this

I got a phone call from them on Thursday last week telling me the stand for the drum sander had arrived and would be sent direct to me that day... nope I didnt hold my breathe... it arrived last night (Tuesday) yaahooooo right? :cool:

Guess what? Its the wrong bloody one again!! :mad: Amazing eh! :rolleyes: Well its either the wrong one or its made for friggin midgets! cause the stand is no more than 18in high and once the drum sanders on it it stands ooohhh all of 2ft from the ground! I mean does anyone work hunched over like that? I know I dont... and I know the stand on the machine at the show was a damned sight higher than this thing is... ah well another spare :rolleyes:

"Ring them back and tell them its the wrong one" says missus "get a grip! Im damned if Im ringin or having anything to do with the flamin galahs again" says I

To be honest Im over it.. but I just thought Id update and finalize the thread...

Cheers

It may be turning the corner tho. My recent order still hadn't shown after 14 days, I call up and it seems the Australian Air Express feight co had not delivered it, held it in Sydney for 10 days and then shipped back to Timbecon. Would have been nice if someone (from AAE) had called me or left note.

Anyway, here's the bright spot. In my back and forth phone tag to Timbecon, I finally spoke to a mature woman (should've got her name) she was very efficient, interested in my problem and promised to re-send item and it arrived the next morning!!!!!

So they can do it! Please, please let someone from Timbecon check these threads. YOU CAN DO IT, BOYS

I've been more than a little disappointed with them too - ordered a Nova2 lathe chuck with 75mm jaws, got stuffed around for a few weeks, rang them up, was assured that they had the item, etc etc. They then shipped one with 50mm jaws & ignored the rest of the order. Ptooey!

I've since spoken to a number of people & they all state that Timbecon can't manage to deliver or answer e-mails reliably.

I will now only buy from them at wood shows where I can hold the item in my hand & carefully check that the item works - I've had a 50% failure rate 'out of the box' on clamps from them for instance.

Shane

I too spent some time "calmly" and "patiently" wating for some "toys" from a different supplier a while back so took the opportunity to read a book, Down Under by Bill Bryson. I quite enjoyed the following extract. Hope you do too.

From page 158 Quote:

.....In the 1950s, a friend of Catherine's moved with her young family into a house next door to a vacant lot. One day some builders arrived to put up a house on the lot. Catherine's friend had a three-year-old daughter who naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door. She hung around on the margins and eventually the builders adopted her as a kind of mascot. They chatted to her and gave her little jobs to do and at the end of the week presented her with a little pay packet containing a shinny new half crown, or something.
She took this home to her mother who made all the appropriate cooings of admiration and suggested that they take it to the bank the next morning to deposit it in her account. When they went to the bank, the cashier was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her own pay packet.
"I've been building a house this week," she replied proudly.
"Goodness!" said the cashier. "And will you be building a house next week too?"
"I will if we ever get the f...... bricks," answered the little girl.

Have A Nice Day
Dick

Gidday:)

Well i finally got my gear yesterday. I have been going through a bloke named Allen. Good bloke once again sympathising with my situation and eager to 'fix' the problem. In Timbercon's defense apparently they have had a lot of recent staffing problems that have been causing problems in dispatch!!!.............Lets hope they Iron them out quickly!!!!!

To cut a story that went too long short I ended up recieving my gear 2 weeks before the promised disbatch date...................Yup the Guys at Timbercon can do it!!!!! If they can just get their &%$*^ together they might Win this customer back........................REgarless I'm a Happy Camper now. They listened to me & got the Job Done!!!

HappierLou

They do seriously seem to have staff issues.

The last several times I have been in the shop I have had to wait quite some time before I could get served because they were so understaffed. Certainly some of the people I recall seeing quite regualrly no longer appear to be there..

Perhaps they are having to trim back a bit...

Certainly gives me the irrits, when i want to pop in and grab something, then end up waiting around for 15 minutes till someones free to serve!

Id' half expect this on Saturday, but this was on Wednesdays....

Haven't seen them advertsing for new staff though....

cheers

RB

I went to the timbecon site last week and pointed them to this thread, maybe they read it.


Al :)

The definition of the true idiot is he who never learns. On the weekend I ordered some more bits and pieces from the big T. Best prices, and their range is excellent. Looked at COB today, order still pending. I never learn!

Someone here mentioned the name of the guy thats owns Timbecon. Please remind me and I'll ring up and have a chat.

Its so sad. Why can't they get their act together? It's not rocket science!

Bodgy
The boss is a bloke named Ross Gobby. His son's name is Hague Gobby. Hague is the bloke who posted here about possible free freight to Melbourne and received lots of brownie points for being so open and caring about customers, perhaps you should talk to him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caliban

Bodgy
The boss is a bloke named Ross Gobby. His son's name is Hague Gobby. Hague is the bloke who posted here about possible free freight to Melbourne and received lots of brownie points for being so open and caring about customers, perhaps you should talk to him.

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Thank you. I'll give them two days and then put the consumers point of view.

I bear them no ill will (althought it may be developing) just want to get a viable, reliable and competitive supplier.

In all my businesses, we have valued customer feedback. WOM is the cheapest and best marketing there is. In fact, at one time we had a 'fkcc up fund', a succession of cases of French Champagne. We would send out a bottle to customers who we had really stuffed around. Not the whingers, but where we had genuinley blown it. It worked like a charm. Guys having driven for a whole day in the bush to install a system that never arrived - that sort of thing. I don't think we ever lost a customer. Very cheap PR. The point being that customers will forgive you for the worst disasters, if only you communicate, are honest and accept that you stuffed up and attempt recompense.

This is the sort of thing I'll be putting to Mr Gobby Jnr.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caliban

Hague is the bloke who posted here about possible free freight to Melbourne and received lots of brownie points for being so open and caring about customers, perhaps you should talk to him.

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And then lost them again when it turned out to be a load of hot air.

All he did was try to cash in on the misfortune of the then CT Melbourne franchisee, and then withdrew it.

At least CT Brisbane honoured the outstanding deals and did give the 10% discount and freight free to Melbourne. They did care about customers and did something about it unlike the orange men from the west.


Peter.